Questions tagged [ls]

Questions relating to the Linux 'list' command (ls)

391 questions
501
votes
6 answers

What do the different colors mean in ls?

What do the different colours in Ubuntu's ls command mean? For example, when I type the ls command in one of my folders, I get one of the files in light green, the other (which is a folder) in blue with green highlighting. What do those colours…
Rafid
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302
votes
14 answers

How do I change the color for directories with ls in the console?

On my console the color for directories is such a blue, that it is hard to read on a dark background. How can I change the color definitions for ls ?
rubo77
  • 34,212
292
votes
10 answers

How to list all symbolic links in a directory

I have a symbolic link in my /var/www/ directory that links to WordPress. When I run the command ls -la from the /var/www/ directory the link to WordPress doesn't show up. Is there a way to list all of the symbolic links that are in a directory?
Isaac
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252
votes
25 answers

How to show only hidden files in Terminal?

I have a directory that contains thousands of files, some of which are hidden. The command ls -a lists all files, including hidden ones, but I need to just list hidden files. What command should I use?
nux
  • 39,252
214
votes
5 answers

How to Search for Files Recursively into Subdirectories

I am trying to look for all XML files in a particular directory and all sub-directories (recursively) inside it. ls -R *.xml is only listing files in the current directory. I am quite sure, the sub-folders themselves have several .xml files, but…
Shamim Hafiz - MSFT
  • 2,484
131
votes
5 answers

How to exclude certain files in `ls`?

I would like to run ls and exclude certain files in the output. When I run the following command, I get all files, each on a separate line: $ ls -1 file1 file2 file3 temp I would like to run this command in a way so that it shows: $ ls -1 <insert…
Alice Ryhl
  • 1,587
121
votes
8 answers

How can I make ls only display files?

I figure there has to be a way of making ls only display non-directories, but the man page doesn't make it obvious
user453720
103
votes
5 answers

Difference between 'dir' and 'ls' terminal commands?

I've been trying to find the difference between using the dir and ls commands in terminal. I know ls is the traditional UNIX method of viewing the files in a directory, and that dir is the windows command prompt equivalent, but both commands work in…
BretD
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75
votes
10 answers

Count total number of files in particular directory with specific extension

I want to count the total number of files in particular directory that ends with ".mp4" extension. I am getting following command: ls -F |grep -v / | wc -l It count all the files in particular directory, but I want the count of files that end with…
Prakash H
  • 2,641
50
votes
5 answers

What is the significance of '*' (star, asterisk) in the file listing results?

I have noticed that some of my files have an asterisk at end. Does the asterisk at the end have any particular significance? I think they are mostly executable and displayed in green by the ls command. You will see that ./bkmp* and ./bkmp0* have an…
vfclists
  • 1,959
46
votes
11 answers

How to list all the files in a tree (a directory and its subdirs)?

For a task of mine I need to list all the files in a tree (a directory, all its subdirs, all subdirs of those, etc.). I'd prefer to see them in Nautilus or Krusader, but a command-line solution is interesting as well (in this case I will need files…
Ivan
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44
votes
2 answers

Why does ls -l output a different size from ls -s?

I can't figure out why I'm getting the following results: ls -l tells me the size of a given file (HISTORY) is "581944": $ ls -l HISTORY -rw-rw-r-- 1 waldyrious waldyrious 581944 Feb 22 10:59 HISTORY ls -s says it is "572": $ ls -s HISTORY 572…
waldyrious
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43
votes
5 answers

How to activate pagination for ls command?

What is the equivalent option for the ls command to activate pagination as in DOS the dir /p does?
NES
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39
votes
5 answers

What does the second column in the output of 'ls -n' mean?

When I run: ls -n I get something like: -rwxrwxrwx 1 1000 1000 765528 2009-10-15 18:41 file1 drwxr-xr-x 10 1000 1000 4096 2010-12-07 20:50 dir1 drwxr-xr-x 3 1000 1000 4096 2010-10-24 16:57 dir2 What does the second column (the number) mean?
Nathan Osman
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37
votes
4 answers

What do "." and ".." mean when in a folder?

When I used ls -a to view hidden files in folder, there were 2 hidden files created by default. What is the significance of these two files, . and .. ? ls -a produces: . .. <other_files>
Vishwanath Dalvi
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